title: Narrative palliative care: a method for building empathy.
abstract: We make meaning of illness, suffering, and death through narrative, by telling a story. In this article, the authors explore narrative and palliative care: how, at the end of life, narratives of patients, caregivers, and clinicians serve to connect to those still living, and how through each telling and listening, we honor and validate the experience of suffering. A discussion of narrative competence and the skills of attention, representation, and affiliation is followed by an outline of the format for a narrative medicine workshop and a detailed analysis of an experiential exercise in close reading and reflective writing.
authors.affiliation: Program in Narrative Medicine, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA. patstan@optonline.net
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: Marsha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hurst
mesh_terms: D001293:Attitude to Death; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D054521:Cultural Competency; D004645:Empathy; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D033262:Narration; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D012649:Self Concept; D014956:Writing